i'm back from austin and awp. what fun! the city was great to visit, and i was able to meet and get to know many writers i've only heard of or have corresponded with for years through e-mail.
it's a great thing to be sitting down for lunch with kristy odelius and simone muench (and about five others) and look over your shoulder and see joy harjo next to you, and then later in the day sitting down for beers with lea graham and ray bianchi and look across and see tim o'brien (with some other writers).
sitting at Cracked Slab Books' table, many poets came by i wanted to meet, such as jennifer moxley, k. silem mohammad, and joshua clover, and many poets i'm fans of stopped by to talk, such as aaron belz and jen hofer.
as someone who works with experimental poetry and tries to support it through both an ezine and a press, i thought that i would see less activity in austin, but many experimental poets showed up, and i even was able to see some fun experimental poets read (hugh tribbey, cheryl pallant, piotr gwiazda, and bob archambeau--who places me with others in the chicago poetry mafia) and read myself (thanks to grant jenkins--he's an interesting writer himself. he's posted his own experience of awp.)
unfortunately, i missed meeting some poets i was hoping to meet, but that is always the case (i've heard that lorna dee cervantes and I were even in the same room together and that shanna compton came by the table when nature had pulled me away--shanna's down spooky has not left my nightstand since i received it; i've been reading it over and over). i came home with some wonderful books and sold out all of my own books (The Vicious Bunny Translations went rapidly. if you didn't get a copy, you can get a resonably priced copy here.)
it's a great thing to be sitting down for lunch with kristy odelius and simone muench (and about five others) and look over your shoulder and see joy harjo next to you, and then later in the day sitting down for beers with lea graham and ray bianchi and look across and see tim o'brien (with some other writers).
sitting at Cracked Slab Books' table, many poets came by i wanted to meet, such as jennifer moxley, k. silem mohammad, and joshua clover, and many poets i'm fans of stopped by to talk, such as aaron belz and jen hofer.
as someone who works with experimental poetry and tries to support it through both an ezine and a press, i thought that i would see less activity in austin, but many experimental poets showed up, and i even was able to see some fun experimental poets read (hugh tribbey, cheryl pallant, piotr gwiazda, and bob archambeau--who places me with others in the chicago poetry mafia) and read myself (thanks to grant jenkins--he's an interesting writer himself. he's posted his own experience of awp.)
unfortunately, i missed meeting some poets i was hoping to meet, but that is always the case (i've heard that lorna dee cervantes and I were even in the same room together and that shanna compton came by the table when nature had pulled me away--shanna's down spooky has not left my nightstand since i received it; i've been reading it over and over). i came home with some wonderful books and sold out all of my own books (The Vicious Bunny Translations went rapidly. if you didn't get a copy, you can get a resonably priced copy here.)
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